I guess I shouldn't give our American magazines too hard of a time, but I would like to point out that the Brits,who are complimentary to the Indian RE's, would be the people who would have the most experience with the older, English-made bikes, and should know what to expect better than our crowd. It also seems that our brothers across the pond are predominately an older crowd and it seems that the American mag staffers are mostly younger than my 49 years.

For the most part it is an age thing with the writers. I am 56 and any American around my age or older most likely learned to ride on an old Brit machine which I think explains wshy we have a bit more gray hair (if we have any at all). This is one reason that the RE is usually quite welcome at Harley only events.

Virtually all of the articles in the main magazines are based around the criteria of speed performance. Typically at speeds that are triple the legal speed limits in most areas.And why is this?It's because the Japanese makers, and some of the others, are funding racing efforts with their machines, which goes along with the mantra "What wins on Sunday, sells on Monday". And so all of the sales efforts are geared toward selling bikes based on their racetrack performance.Well, at one time in the past, the street bikes were modified into race bikes, and even the race bikes only did 100mph or so, and there was some kind of connection between a street bike and a race bike.Now, things have changed to the point that a race bike and a street bike are almost the same things, and are designed to do 185mph, and don't even get out of first gear at the legal speed limit.There is no longer a real working connection between the current motorcycles and riding on the street.

So, this being the case, the magazines are tasked with convincing the public that they need to have a 185mph race bike to ride to work in the morning. And if they don't have that, then they are somehow "inferior to the next guy who does". After all, there's "winners" and the rest are "losers". You don't want to be seen at the local drive-in on "last years model", which is now "down on horsepower" by 5hp compared to "this year's model"., when the guy on his shiny new "this year's model" rides up, do you?

So, the magazines run 500 articles a year on "how bike XYZ can lap Willow Springs". And how bikes YZX and ZYX lost out by .4765 of a second. So that means that "this year" you should buy bike XYZ, but watch out for next year when bike ZYX is supposed to release their new world beater, so get ready to trade your XYZ for a ZYX next year, or you're a dweeb come spring.

And that's all that is supposed to matter, and thats' all that is presented, and for a very good reason.And that reason is that "that's all they've got". There's nothing else to really recommend the bike. It's a "fish out of water" for street use, so they appeal to your ego as a Walter Mitty "Roger Racer", to make you NEED to have this bike or your ego will suffer.

And this has become totally pervasive in the motorcycle market, to the point where more normal road bikes are looked at(down their noses) as some kind of inferior thing. We need to have "the fastest", and if it's not the fastest, it needs to be traded-in immediately. If it's not the fastest, it's "worthless" in the minds of many of these people.And that is what the Japanese makers need people to think, because that is what their entire marketing efforts are built on.This years champ is next years obsolete hardware. This perpetuates the need in the buying public's mind to "trade up" every year and keep sales volume flying out the door, while flooding the market with last-years models whose values have dropped like a stone, now that the new model is out.

It's perpetuating sales cycles of a basically useless vehicle for the street.And they're making biliions on it, selling people something that has 3/4 of its capabilities outside the range where it can be used. You're paying money for capability that you cannot use.

On the other hand, a bike like the Enfield has most of it's full capability which can be used on the street. You get to use more of what the motorcycle can do, and you don't pay for capabilities that you cannot use.The RE is a better value in terms of utility.But in the view of the writers and readers, the RE is "just a slug" that can't even keep up with the latest Ninja 250 in a race. And you can tell that's what they think, because words to that effect are the first thing to come out of their mouths when something like an RE comes up in conversation.

All the other stuff is ego-driven, and will likely never get used by the owner in most cases. It's all "bragging rights" about how "Rossi beat so-and-so on the same kind of bike I ride". etc, etcThe whole industry runs on "Walter Mitty" buying the latest race bike modelsAnd that's okay, if that's what you want to do. But to keep the "image" going, the racebike mentality requres that other bikes are viewed as "losers" if they don't lap Willow Springs faster than what you've got.So, the writers for the magazines write articles to perpetuate that scenario, so that their advertisers sell alot of bikes every year, and keep buying millions of dollars of ad space in the magazines.

ace

Nailed it sir... I quit buying bike mags because of exactly those shootout articles Dirt bike mags are much the same, disposable consumerist society at its finest. And we can see where all this consumerism and growth is getting us ( Secretary Paulson's friends are getting wealthier).Most squids are fooling themselves if the think they could ride those bikes at the level where that-.467 seconds advantage would ever become evident.

I save money by not prescribing to the "must have now" crowd. I purchase the level of technology I need or want a let the rest go.

Ace.cafe brings to light, what a lot of us were feeling and couldn't put to words.I've returned to motorcycling after a 15 year break, and jumped at the chance to get back in with an RE. I have no regrets yet. ( except I wish I had 2 or 3 more MCs).

I can't find a MC magazine that suits me. I considered some Brit publications, but price 50-60 GB Pounds weasels into my RE parts budget, so I rely on you folks though this forum to fill in.

"the Horse, Backstreet Choppers".... If'n you lean that way. Lots of Brit iron, Triumphs, BSA's, some Japanese stuff from the 70's, a Guzzi once in a while. Some really interesting thumpers too. Of course, being a chopper mag, it is geared towards those who would take a perfectly good, (or not so good), motorcycle and pull all the junk off, stretch it, rake it and hardtail it, and lighten it by a few hundred pounds, but still....This one leans more to the home/garage builder, and restoring advocate. Not so much concerning power generation as insinuating reliability into the power plant, enjoying the machinery, and certainly, looking cool. I am building a little rigid framed, Bullet engined cycle for my daughter. She tends not to "follow the crowd," and I think this bike will look good and ride great with her. If this works out as a decent power plant, I would build another with one of the UCE's. (If they become available as a crate package).Check that mag out, see what some of the "other" crowd is doing with the English bikes.

e author=REpozer link=topic=3101.msg33147#msg33147 date=1229200583]I save money by not prescribing to the "must have now" crowd. I purchase the level of technology I need or want a let the rest go.

Ace.cafe brings to light, what a lot of us were feeling and couldn't put to words.I've returned to motorcycling after a 15 year break, and jumped at the chance to get back in with an RE. I have no regrets yet. ( except I wish I had 2 or 3 more MCs).

I can't find a MC magazine that suits me. I considered some Brit publications, but price 50-60 GB Pounds weasels into my RE parts budget, so I rely on you folks though this forum to fill in.[/quote]

I knew this site was more my kind of people. On top of sharing a love for the RE for years, you like the same mags as me. Motorcycle Classics is a great mag. I started with the premier issue in october of 2006, and look forward to each and every new magazine. The price has went up to $24.95 for six months. I just renewed for a year 2 days ago. Reading the mag brings back plenty of memories of the old bikes I rode or wished I had owned. Great publication. Hutch